Suppliers (manufacturers, producers, vendors and/or processors) who desire to sell products to consumers often sell wholesale quantities to retailors, who then resell the goods directly to consumers. In selling to retailors, suppliers have found that a unified sales message as well as an efficient sales presentation can be advantageous. As some suppliers provide products to a large number, and wide variety of retailors, and those retailors may extend over a large geographical area, a large sales force may sometimes be required.
Many retailors stock a wide variety of items, and so must continuously purchase those items in order to maintain stocked merchandise for consumers. While a retailor may be generally categorized (e.g. department store, convenience store, grocery store, etc.), some retailors stock a sufficiently wide variety of products that they must employ a staff of purchasers in order to ensure that purchasing decisions and logistical details can be appropriately planned and executed.
Each sales agent of a supplier's sales force may need to meet with many purchasers from a variety of retailors. While a supplier may organize their sales force to cover sales of their products according to the structure of their brands or products, for example, a retailor may structure their purchasers according to departments within a store, for example. Accordingly, sales agents may be called upon to deliver a wide variety of sales presentations that preferably can be tailored to the particular purchasing audience. In some cases, information presented in a sales meeting originates from a wide variety of subject matter experts, who package their information for delivery in a wide variety of formats that may not be mutually compatible.